The Devil's Own
by Cyborgscouse
Summary: Cross Over with Devil May Cry. Set during season four. Buffy's relationship with Parker has just ended and she's depressed. No one has heard from Xander since he left to go on his road trip. Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I dont own BTVS and I never will. I don't own DMC and for some reason capcom refuse to sell it to me for twenty pound. **

**Summary:Cross Over with Devil May Cry. Set during season four. Buffy's relationship with Parker has just ended and she's depressed. No one has heard from Xander since he left to go on his road trip. During patrol one night Buffy is saved from a group of vampires by someone who seems to be as strong as she is and she wants to know who it is. B/X**

**A/N: My copy of DMC is broke so i was wonderiing if someone can tell me the attackes Dante can use in the first game. Thanks :D R+R **

**A/N: Anya never came back in season three so she never went to the prom with Xander. **

* * *

Buffy was sitting at the college cafeteria staring down at her empty plate. She couldn't believe that she had sex with Parker after knowing him for a whole week at most; wiping her tears away she should have known that this would happen to her. Angel was the first guy she had sex with and he had lost his soul and turned into a mass murdering vampire, Parker was the second and the next day he wanted nothing to do with her, saying that it was only sex and laughing when she seemed so upset by it. 

Buffy was starting to realize just how much she hated college, her only friend her was Willow and she seemed to be having so much fun in the higher learning situation, as well as the fact that Willow had Oz made Buffy feel even worse. Ever since she had come to Sunnydale she had been the one with boys wanting her attention, well in high school she had; Xander was the first, then Scott, and Owen, but she paid none of them any attention when she saw Angel. The brooding vampire who had stole her heart and her innocence. Her thoughts turned back to Xander, no one had heard off him since he left after graduation to go on his road trip, she had been shocked when she had found out that he had paid for Cordelia's prom dress, but she chalked it up to his way of apologising and starting fresh so to speak. Out of the Scobbies he was the only one that didn't have a date when they went to the prom, part of her had thought he would have asked her when they had been told of Angel's departure but then she thought why should he. She had shot him down when he had told her how he felt in his first year and then there was the mess with the love spell in the second year.

It had taken his trip for the gang to realize just how much they had become used to having him around to calm down the situation with one of his jokes. She knew that they had been pushing him away last year as she had said multiple times that he would only be hurt, so they hadn't told him when they were planning an attack and left him out of it. At first it seemed like he didn't know what was going on when they had excuses to not have him around but as the year went on in a heated confrontation he had told them he had known all year what they had been doing. It was in this conversation that he also told them he was leaving for his road trip after graduation and he didn't know when or if he'd be coming back.

Buffy thought that it might have been karma that Parker didn't want anything to do with her because of the way she had treated Xander,

"You ok Buffy?" looking up she saw Willow and Oz taking seats next to her. She forced a smile and hoped that her tears had dried up,

"Parker wants nothing to do with me." she answered, Willow looked sympathetic for her friend as she had been told about them having sex, Oz had been able to smell them on each other and had figured that something had happened but Buffy's semi confession told him he was right. To say that he was shocked was an understatement, they hadn't been at the college that long so for Buffy to meet and have sex with someone in that short amount of time was surprising.

"Buffy." Willow started but she was quickly cut off,

"Is it me? It has to be, I mean I had sex with Angel and he turned evil and then left the next year. I had sex with Parker and he wants nothing to do with me. Even Xander couldn't stand to be around me any longer." Willows jaw dropped and Oz raised his eyebrow as they looked at Buffy at what she had just said.

"You had sex with Xander?" Willow asked not being able to keep all the jealousy out of her voice, Buffy looked taken back by what Willow had just asked her and Oz was obviously waiting for an answer as well but he had a more amused expression on his face.

"No I haven't had sex with Xander." Buffy said looking slightly disgusted that they would think that she had, "I mean he had sex with Faith. And he's Xander" she continued with the final statement as if that was a perfect reason. Willow seemed a little pleased to find out that Buffy hadn't had sex with him, but Oz was still looking on in disbelief, it wasn't that he thought she was lying because he knew if they had sex that Xander would tell everyone. It was the fact that Buffy had seemed so disgusted about the thought of having sex with him, it threw the werewolf seeing how that the other females that had been part of the group at one point had all been attracted to him; Willow had a secret crush on him since they were children and their fluke last year had showed that it wasn't completely gone, Cordelia had dated him for roughly a year but they had broken up and even Faith had shown some attraction to him otherwise they wouldn't have had sex. Even after the incident she had constantly called him different nicknames which usually hinted that they had sex.

Not being the one to speak up Oz didn't say anything or bring himself into the conversation, Buffy and Willow were talking about how much of a pig Parker was and that he was stupid if he didn't want Buffy. It seemed that coming to college had turned Buffy into a younger version of Cordelia as the way she was acting made it seem like she was in love with herself and seemed to think that she was better than anyone else. Suddenly Parker walked past the table with a giggling brunette on his arm and quickly looked away so he didn't see Buffy's hurt face.

"Don't worry Buffy, you'll find someone better." Oz said trying to give the slayer some type of support, he knew that he wasn't exactly good at thus type of thing; it seemed out that the one girl that was destined to fight the forces of evil seemed so emotionally weak and got upset at a lot of things. Instead of replying Buffy nodded and looked back down at her plate Willow was glaring at Parker who had looked back and when he had saw Buffy's downcast expression had a smug smile on his face as if he had accomplished something. Oz was looking at Parker in confusion; he looked across at Willow who was offering words of support to Buffy who looked like she was trying to fight back any tears that could threaten to fall. Hadn't they seen it? "Don't you think Parker looks like someone else?" he asked trying to get one of them to say it.

"Yea. An ugly drowned rat." Buffy replied looking at Oz who had a smirk playing at the side of his mouth as he was wearing his, 'I know something you don't look' which was a lot different from his usual 'Nothing bothers me for I am Oz look' both her and Willow turned to look at Parker who was sitting on one of the couches with his arm around the brunette. It might have been her hurt and anger but Buffy couldn't see that he looked like anyone other than Parker. The dirty, sleazy bastard, that had used her.

"OH MY GOD!" Willow exclaimed loudly wide eyed as she saw what oz was talking about. She looked from Oz who was still smirking to Buffy who had a look of confusion on her face and then back to Parker. "Don't you see if Buffy?" she asked getting a tilt of the head in response, "Take away the dirty look on his face and its Xander." this broke Buffy out of her confusion and she was now staring at Parker wide eyed as it sunk in. She had sex with someone that looked exactly like Xander. She could hear it now, Willow would be saying how it was some unconscious desire to have sex with Xander, but because he wasn't around she had sex with someone that looked just like him.

"Yea, I suppose he does if Xander was better looking and more built, and more charming, with a better dress sense." Buffy replied trying to make it seem that they didn't look alike. She knew that it was a lie but she needed anything to stop Willow from starting to ask her if she was in love with Xander. Both Willow and Oz were taken back by what she had just said, Willow was trying to think of something to say to defend her childhood friend, while Oz was glaring slightly at Buffy, since neither of them had really like Angel and being the only two males in the group they had forged a kinship even after what had happened between Xander and Willow last year.

"Buffy you could put the two of them next to each other and people would think they were twins." Willow said trying to get Buffy to admit it, she knew that she had saw it from her reaction when Willow had nearly shouted it out, but she didn't know why Buffy was so set and trying to act like they didn't look nearly identical. Deciding not to answer because she didn't trust what would come out of her mouth Buffy acted like she hadn't heard what Willow or Oz had said all the time they were sitting with her as she was either in depression or trying to argue the point of Parker looking like Xander.

* * *

Wearing a long leather duster the male figure continued his walk around the temple. The paintings on the walls depicted some ancient war between demons and humans, from what they could tell it was some type of story but he was unable to read the text above the drawings. Continuing his walk he was examining the walls even if he couldn't read the text he figured that the drawings themselves might be able to give him some type of understanding about what was happening. Behind the group of demons on one side was a giant hole in the floor with an extremely large demon with tentacles trying to get out, and on the other side standing in front of the human side of the war was a demon which surprised him. This demon freaked him out slightly; it had horns coming out of the back of its head which curved around to the front, razor sharp teeth and huge wings. It looked like the typical evil demon determined to destroy the world so why was it standing with the humans. 

Walking away from the wall he followed the path and noticed that there weren't any more drawings or text on the walls, it was either that the story was finished back with the drawings but that seemed unlikely or that the person that was doing them had died before they could finish. Seeing that the path had brought him to a dead end he was ready to turn back and leave, but in a small enclave was a pedestal that came up to stomach height. Walking towards it he saw that there were a set of gauntlets resting on top of it crossed over each other, standing in front of them he saw that the tips of each finger were given small spikes and the gauntlets were coloured black and a dark orange. He reached out and put his hand on top of one of them when he saw the text that was carved into the wall behind them.

_'Those unworthy that disturb Ifrit will pay with the fires of hell'_ pulling his hand off of the gauntlet he looked around almost expecting something to explode from behind him. Seeing nothing he smiled, he knew that ancient cultures loved these messages of doom and death when they put things away from peoples grasp. Realizing that there was nothing there for him he turned away and started to head back down the path ready to leave the temple when he heard something heavy moving around behind him. He froze and his heart stopped as the sound continued, it almost sounded like something was being dragged across stone, in fact it sounded like two things were being dragged across stone.

Turning back around his eyes widened when he saw the gauntlets slowly lifting up from the pedestal and floating in mid air. He admitted to his mind that it was officially of the good if he paid more attention to the messages of death and doom above items that were in ancient temples from now on. Being unable to move he thought that his eyes would fall out of his sockets as he watched the gauntlets fly around him in a giant circle, he thought that they looked like small comets as they left a tail of flames behind them as they sped up. Suddenly the gauntlets shot at him with speed he had never experienced before, he felt them hit him and then felt his body burning up. From the heat he thought that he could have burst into flames, he closed his eyes to try and block the pain out and could feel himself being brought off the floor, his arms started to close in around him and his legs bent and started to come up making him as small as possible.

"ARRGGHHHH!" as he screamed out in pain he used all of his strength to force his arms and legs out and away from his body. Dropping to the floor he felt the heat that was consuming him diminish, it was still there but nowhere near as bad as it had been. Feeling his hands heavier than they had been earlier on, he looked down and saw that the gauntlets were on his hands, picking his hands up with ease he opened and closed his hands, smirking as he felt the power flow through him he spun around with speed he hadn't had before and punched the wall.

He didn't know what surprised him more; the speed he had done it, the fact that the gauntlets had left flames as he throw the punch or the fact that the temple had started to shake when he punch the wall. Pulling his hand out of the hole he had created, one thought was in his mind. 'RUN'

Turning around he shot down the path that would lead him to the exit. He knew that he was running with more speed then he should be capable of but he knew that he couldn't think of that right now. If he didn't get out of the temple as quickly as he could then he'd be crushed by the pieces of falling rock. Seeing a piece of rock fall down from the ceiling he lashed out with his right hand and once again saw the trail of fire left as he punch the rock, he was completely shocked to see the rock smash into a hundred small pieces as he ran through it unharmed.

Sitting in the driver's seat of the car the brunette stared in shock as she looked at the temple when she heard the crash. She had no idea what was happening but she did know that her friend would have to come out soon if he wanted to come back out at all. Hearing another crash she saw as the front of the temple was caved in and looked on in horror tears falling down her face as she jumped out of the car and rushed over to the entrance as she started to pick out the smaller pieces of rock hoping that it would make a difference.

"FUCK!" the male screamed out when he saw that the entrance was caved in, all around him the temple was caving in on itself but he had thought he would still be able to make it out of here. Clenching his fists he let a low growl out as his normally brown eyes lit up in flames. 'NO. He would die in here, he had come too far' throwing his fists into the rocks he once again saw the trails of flames as his fist smashed through the rocks, he could see the dust floating him behind him from the falling ceiling. No matter how hard he was hitting the rocks he didn't have the time to smash through them, giving a spin kick he saw that his whole leg and foot was enclosed in flames as it smashed through the rocks covering the entrance, seeing that his kick had gone through the remaining rocks he wasted no time in climbing out of the hole. Seeing his companion on the other side he grabbed hold of her and ran away from the temple, not stopping until they where next to the car.

The brunette had felt the hot gauntlets and looked down at the hand that was around her wrist.

"So are they them?" she asked, turning to face her, the male resisted rolling his eyes as the obvious question, it seemed like they would still get on each other's nerves,

"Yea. These are the gauntlets." he replied jumping into the passenger seat he watched with a smirk as she swayed her hips walking in front of the car before getting into the driver's side. Looking down at his now gauntlet covered hands he pulled them off with more ease than he had expected, from what the old man had told them back in the Mexican town it should have been impossible to remove the gauntlets if they ever went on someone. Reaching into the back seat he picked up the long red duffle bag and placed the gauntlets inside before he looked at the long sword that was in there with a smile.

"So, did the same thing happen?" the brunette asked having been there when the sword had flown out of the wall and impaled him through the chest. She had been in hysterics thinking he had been killed by the crazy flying sword, but that had been nothing to when she had saw him stand back up and pull the sword out of himself with a smirk on his face,

"Not exactly the same thing, but it seems like they choice who gets them." the male replied closing the bag back up and placing it next to his feet. He only hoped the old man was right when he had said that once the sword and gauntlets chose someone no one would be able to use them.

* * *

Giles slowly walked around the apartment reading from one of his books with a glass of scotch in his hand. He was feeling useless, ever since the gang had graduated from Sunnydale High and gone to college and Xander leaving for his road trip no one ever came to his house to research any demonic activity or asked him for help like they did at the school. 

A knock at his door brought him out of his inner monologue and he walked over with a confused look on his face. On the other side of his door stood; Buffy, Willow and Oz the slayer and witch both smiling at the former watcher while the werewolf merely nodded his head as they entered the house,

"You know you're meant to wait to be invited in." Giles said under his breath as he cursed the lack of manners that Americans taught their children once again. It was one of his biggest hates while he worked at the school, the way that they thought they could treat and talk to whoever they wanted however they wanted.

"But by us just walking into your house, it shows we're not vampires." Buffy replied with a bright smile on her face for having an answer.

"Just why would a vampire be walking around the streets at mid-day?" Giles asked with a smirk on his face, he could see that neither Buffy nor Willow could come up with an answer to the question and even if Oz could the chances are he would stay quiet and just watch the discomfort of his girlfriend and her best friend instead. "So is there a new demonic threat that you need to research?" Giles asked sounding far too excited as he moved over to his book case and started to take a collection of books off it and dump them on his table, before looking them over to make sure they would be the right ones.

"No there isn't." Willow said smirking at his disappointed look, "We came here so Buffy can get over Parker since he used her for sex and then dumped her." she added seeing that he was going to ask why there where there if there wasn't a threat that they needed to find information on. Hearing the name Parker he closed his eyes as he tried to put a face to the name in his head, it didn't take long before he reopened his eyes and looked at them,

"Ahh yes. The Xander look alike." He said with a smile, he saw the smug expression on Willow's face and Oz smirking at Buffy who looked like she had just be forced to eat soap as she stared at Giles. "What?" he asked looking at Buffy who was no turning bright red and Willow was laughing at her.

"He doesn't look like Xander." Buffy mumbled to herself, knowing that the two of them would argue the day away until one would admit defeat Oz spoke up as he looked at Giles,

"So has Xander phoned up yet?" he asked, everyone turned to hear Giles' answer. Both he and Oz knew what had happened last year with Buffy and Willow pushing Xander away so they knew that they would be the one's he would phone to talk to. Giles was also aware of the slight worry in Oz's voice when he asked and he couldn't really blame him, like Xander Oz didn't seem to have many friends while he was at school and seeing as how the Scobbie gang was most females the two males had become best friends, so it was no surprise that Oz wanted to know when he was getting back so he would have someone to talk to other than Buffy or Willow.

"No I haven't heard from him since he left four months ago, I just hope he hasn't got himself into a mess out there." Giles said walking over to the bookcase and slowly started putting the books he had pulled out back. Letting out a small grim smile Oz turned away from Giles and looked at Buffy and Willow who were sitting opposite him on the couch,

"God, this is just like Xander to go on a road trip for four months and not phone any one up to let them know he was ok." Buffy ranted, "I mean he hasn't even sent any postcards like he said he would." she continued, at this she let out a small pout which casued Willow and Oz to smile at. It was no secret that the slayer would rush to the post when she was at home each day to see if Xander had sent her a postcard from his travels. For someone that said she didn't have any feelings for him she had an odd way of proving herself wrong. When she had first complained about Xander not phoning or sending her any postcards she had been mercilessly teased by them saying that she couldn't go long without hearing from Xander. They had only stopped when she had shown an interest in Parker. Both Giles and Oz had spotted the resemblance between him and Xander straight away so to them it really didn't prove anything, but Willow hadn't seen it until earlier that day when Oz had finally had enough and near enough pointed it out to them.

"Do you miss Xander that much Buffy?" Giles asked with his back turned so she couldn't see the grin forming on his face. He didn't get an answer straight away and he thought it was because she was struggling to form one, but he was wrong as he felt the heaviest book on the table collide with the back of his head followed by laughter from the three teenagers as he gripped his head and spun around looking murderous. They all fell silent when Giles turned around and Buffy was wearing the most innocent look she could come up with, "Buffy Summers. I thought you were more mature then to throw books around!" Giles yelled at her startling both Willow and Oz who had never heard Giles yell at anyone before, sure he had let people know if he was disappointed in them but he had never shouted. Buffy's eyes widened and immediately her bottom lip started quivering as her eyes filled up with tears looking very much like a little child who had just been told they couldn't have a puppy. Giles was trying to ignore the look she was giving him but found he couldn't. Mumbling an apology he walked over to her and wiped her tears away before hugging her. Over his shoulder Buffy flashed both Oz and Willow a triumphant smirk, both of them struggled to keep their laughter in.

Pulling away from the slayer Giles slowly started to walk to his kitchen to make himself a drink,

"I'm surprised that Xander hasn't been in touch with any of us." he called out, "I would have thought he would have gotten in touch at least once to say when he saw coming home." this thought carried out across the three people in his lounge, at first Buffy was about to complain about the conversation being on Xander once again but stopped when she realized that he was right. Xander should have gotten in touch with one of them at least once to let them now he was ok.

"You know Xander Giles, he probably misread his map and ended in Mexico or something and had to pick up some slutty brunette to get back home." Willow said like she was an expert on the matter, Oz thought about what she had said; Xander in Mexico with a slutty brunette, knowing the male if it was true he very much doubted they'd see him again he'd be having far too much fun. This thought was shared by Buffy who wasn't a quite as Oz was and voiced it.

"Willow if Xander picked up a slutty brunette in Mexico we'd never see him again. We all know how he likes slutty brunettes, I mean first there was Cordelia, and then there was Faith, and the praying mantes lady teacher not long after I first got here. He's attracted to slutty brunettes, it's like a curse for him." Buffy said smugly when no one could find an argument with what she had just said. Except for Buffy it didn't seem like Xander had a thing for brunettes, if they were slutty was a different matter altogether.

* * *

Parking their car, the male and brunette slowly climbed out and headed towards the hotel in the middle of Sunnydale. The hotel looked completely out of place, almost as if it had been pulled out of the sixties with its bright pink coloured walls and blue roof. Whoever had painted must have been blind or wanted to blind whoever would look at the hotel. 

Slinging the bag around his shoulder, the male held the door to the hotel open for his female companion. Smirking she turned her back to him as she slid past making sure to grind herself into him before turning the right way again when she was inside. Feeling his body react straight away he tossed an evil glare at the back of her head as she walked over to the reception desk not once looking back at him.

Walking over the desk himself he saw a small piece of her thong coming above the tight jeans she was wearing, smirking he grabbed hold of it and pulled it up slightly making her squeal in shock before she turned to hit him on the back of his head,

"We'd like a room." she said turning back to the receptionist wearing at smirk on her face, frowning at the two of them was the receptionists way of letting them know she didn't like the way they were acting around one another at the hotel foyer. Typing something on her computer she looked back at the couple with a smirk on her face,

"I'm afraid, that we only have one room available. It only has one bed." she added as an afterthought thinking that it would put them off staying here. The brunette was about to say something about not wanting to share a bed with him when the male wearing a smirk opened his mouth.

"I don't see what the problem is. It's not like I haven't seen you naked before." he said and his smirk grew as he watched her blush, turning to the receptionist he said "We'll take it." thinking that they were a couple she handed them the keys to the room and watched as they walked away. The male still wearing a smirk and the female looking like her head would explode if she blushed any deeper.

"I can't believe you just said that. She probably thinks we're together and not that you walked in on me when I was getting out of the bath." she whispered angrily, laughing the male found their room and opened the door, not letting her in first he tossed the bag contain the sword and gauntlets onto the floor before he turned around to face her.

"Hey she didn't ask in what way I saw you naked, and besides you walked in on me while I was in the shower." he tossed back with a smirk when he saw her blush,

"Hey. I didn't know you where in the shower and I needed to get washed," she answered, she knew that he didn't believe her from the smirk that was still on his face as he stepped closer to her.

"So when the door started to open and I shouted I'm in the shower, you just decided to what try and sneak in?" he asked now towering over her, seeing that she didn't have a reply he stepped back and headed over to his bag taking out the gauntlets and sword and started to look them over.

* * *

Walking around the cemetery Buffy clutched her stake to her chest tighter and listened out for anything that might attack her, she knew that she could take on anything that would be out there but after the first few weeks when she had trouble adjusting and the vampires had nearly killed her she decided to be a bit more cautious and not let her arrogance get in the way. She declined offers from Willow and Oz to join her as she knew that they already had plans but they were just trying to be friendly and stop her from being on her known tonight in case she would start feeling sorry for herself while she was out on patrol and get sloppy. 

She was about to give up and head to her mums house seeing how it would be the weekend tomorrow and she never stayed on campus during the weekend as she felt her mum might be attacked. She never thought about the possibility of her being attacked during the week while she was at college and no one else brought it up.

Spotting a group of vampires ahead of her, she slowed down her pace in hopes of taking them by surprise but that idea went out of the window when she stepped on a branch that had fallen to the floor and felt it snap under her foot. Cursing her bad luck she watched as the group of vampires turned around and stared at her, her eyes widened when she saw that there was more of them then she had first thought. What she had believed to be a group of seven vampires turned out to be more than fifteen but they had been blocked from view from the back.

"Look what we have here boys, a slayer all on her own and all of us hungry." one of the vampires laughed, the others soon followed suite and started to laugh with him as they advanced on Buffy all with their game face on.

Keeping a tight hold on her stake Buffy waited for them to be close enough before she decided to attack. Going for a roundhouse on the nearest one to her the vampire ducked and used her momentum to kick Buffy on the stomach. Taking a step back Buffy saw that the vampires were forming a circle around her to stop her from running away if the numbers got too much for her. This was something she hadn't expected, she wished that she had now taken up Willow and Oz's offer to come with her tonight even if it meant stopping their plans. Parrying a punch away Buffy went in with a right cross that found its mark on what she assumed to be the lead vampires jaw, she didn't have time to follow up on her attack as she was kicked in the side by another vampire, stumbling to her left another vampire punched her just below her eye.

Dropping to the floor Buffy quickly rolled out of the way of one of the vampire diving on top of her. Getting back to her feet she lashed out with a back kick forcing the vampire that was behind her away, seizing her brief step up she back flipped and staked the downed vampire, that was easy she thought one down only fourteen more to go. She almost let out a groan when she realized how many more vampires there were for her to kill and she wasn't even at the end of her patrol. Quickly she dropped to the floor and staked a vampire through his knee before pulling it out and jumping back up, she was hoping to have another quick stake but was back handed to the floor by a vampire that looked like they had once been a quarter back.

Not far from where Buffy was fighting the vampires a figure was crouched on a tree branch watching with great interest. Seeing the slayer get back handed to the floor his gauntlet covered hands tightened their grip on the tree to keep him up there, he had spotted the vampires a while ago and was going to kill them himself but had changed his mind when he saw the slayer making her way over to them. He knew that she didn't have a clue about how many there really were but he had thought she would be putting up a better fight then what she was.

Groaning as she found herself on the floor again Buffy wasn't fast enough to roll out of the way of the vampire this time as it jumped on top of her pinning her to the floor. She was about to try and flip it off when she felt it grind itself into her, she was disgusted by what it was doing and knew that they weren't going to feed off her but try and rape her instead.

"What's wrong slayer," the vampire laughed, "I thought you liked fucking vampires, well there's a group of us so you'll have your work cut out for you tonight." he continued, tears filled Buffy's eyes when she found that she couldn't get from under him, she had never been in this type of position before and it terrified her.

Leaping from the tree the figure extended his right fist and smashed it into the ground behind the group of vampires and Buffy; he smirked as flames erupted from the floor and torched three of the vampires while the others were stunned by the sudden arrival and power of the new figure. Getting to his feet he ducked under a vampires punch and delivered one of his own, grinning as he felt the cheek bone being crushed under his gauntlet, before the vampire fell to the floor he kicked him in his rips sending him flying the other way.

"If I was you I'd let the slayer go." he said as his leather duster blew in the wind. Still shocked at seeing three of them killed and another beaten, so easily the vampires still hadn't moved. The lead vampire slowly got up off Buffy and took several steps forward.

"And if I were you, I wouldn't get myself involved in other people's business." he said smirking as he poked him in the chest. The vampire went for a roundhouse but he found himself being punched in the stomach instead, the force and strength of the punch made him hunch over but suddenly he felt himself burning up, looking into the figures eyes he saw that there were flames dancing in them.

The rest of the vampires were shocked to see their leader burst into flames after being punched and started to walk away from Buffy who was still on the floor in favour of attacking the new comer. Slowly getting to her feet Buffy watched in awe as the group of vampires attacked her rescuer. Moving with a speed she didn't know if she could match she watched as they threw punches and kicks at the vampires with tremendous force, but that wasn't what had her in awe. It was the fact that his fists and legs/feet seemed to be on fire and they left a trail of fire behind them whenever they lashed out, every time one of these punches or kicks connected the vampire would burst into flames.

Smirking as the last vampire was dead the figure looked up and saw Buffy walk towards him, taking several hurried steps back to keep his distance he almost walked into a headstone,

"Wait!" she called out stopping him as he was about to turn away, "I just want to say thanks for saving me." Turning to face her half on Buffy saw that they had flames dancing in their eyes; she also saw that his hands were covered in gauntlets and they were currently glowing. "Who are you?" she asked looking back up at them but saw that the flames weren't there anymore so she could only see a brief outline of them, as she went to walk closer to them, they quickly jumped into the trees they had come out of and vanish from sight leaving Buffy standing there having no clue about what had just happened.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n: Hey my peeps, so much for me having quit. After six weeks, closer to two months really, I'vebeen doing my own thing which was mostly going to Uni and getting drunk as well as exercising andtrying to figure out what i'm getting for my next tattoo, I decided to come back to fanfiction. Right nowI don't know if this is going to be a permenant deal or if I will come and go over time, but what I do know is that even though I'm back my updates won't have the same speed that i used to have, I think that was part of the reason for me to leave as I had at least two or more updates a week done, so this time I'm going to take it at a bit of a slower pace to keep me here for good. :D**

**A/n: To answer the last review, yes this will be a cross over and yes it was Xander. Before i forget I don't own DMC either if i did i'd try to buy Angelina jolie**

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Xander stared at the ceiling of the hotel, he wanted to leave already but knew that it wouldn't be fair to do to his still sleeping partner after she had taken wherever he had asked in her car without so much as a complaint. The duffle bag at the end of the bed held everything he needed now he was back in Sunnydale, the only problem was that he didn't know where he was going to be staying, it wasn't like he had told his parents what he was going to go and do as soon as they had killed the mayor he had started his trip only for his car to break down. Tilting his head to the right once again a smile formed on his face; that was where she came in driving down the road no doubt in her own attempt to leave the hell mouth situated town and get somewhere a little quieter. He had never expected her offer for him to join her going down to Mexico for her prolonged summer trip but with no car of his own and no idea of where he was going Xander agreed and to Mexico they went.

It seemed though that it didn't matter if they were in Sunnydale or not as it didn't take long for the duo to find trouble of the supernatural, Xander beaten and bruised had followed to demon into what looked like a old cave trying to get his other half back. Unarmed he knew that the chances of either of them getting away were slim but it all changed when he saw a sword embedded in a carving on one of the walls, hearing the loud steps of the demon getting further away Xander edged closer to the weapon, he mightn't have the strength of a slayer but he knew how to swing a sword to make sure that what he had hit didn't get back up again. That was when the trip had gone from fun, too bad to hell mouthy in an instant. Just as he was standing perfectly in front of the sword the carving on the wall changed to what looked like a skeleton wearing some type of crown, the only warning Xander had was a distant whispering before the sword shot out of the wall and impaled him through the chest. Laying on the cold stone floor bleeding to death Xander was ready to give up all hope when his body started to convulse almost as if he were being electrocuted by thousands of volts, instead of a white light like people say they see when they die Xander started to regain movement and his perception of what was happening. Shakily he reached up to grab hold of the two foot blade and pulled it from his chest before getting back to his feet, his heart thundered in his chest as he looked down at where his mortal wound should have been to only see the tear through his t-shirt and his skin without a mark on it. Hearing a female scream coming from deep within the cave, he grabbed hold of the sword that was on the floor and raced off in the direction it had come from, he was vaguely aware that he was running a lot quicker than he ever had before but thought it was just the adrenaline flowing through his body. The demon had quickly been killed by Xander the sword he was using sliced through it like a knife through butter.

Movement on the bed brought Xander from his thoughts and he turned once again to see his partner waking up with a grin on her face.

"How does it feel to no longer be the Zeppo?" Xander wouldn't have been able to stop the laugh coming from his throat even if he wanted to, he tried to put an angry look on his face as he turned to face Cordelia but the innocent expression of her own only caused him to laugh more. As he was about to come up with a retort he noticed consciously or not Cordelia's eyes travelled down his body with a slightly glazed look in her eyes, while he had never been out of shape before it seemed getting stabbed through the chest had done wonders for his body's muscle mass. Having been broad before, Xander now looked like he spent more time in the gym then running around the past year for donuts for the Scooby gang.

"Not that I don't appreciate the look on your face Cordy," Xander started the amusement not being kept from his voice as the former queen of the school, and his ex-girlfriend blushed "I think we should talk about what's going to happen now we're back." Both knew what was meant, while both of them knew that Xander was always going to end back in Sunnydale it had never been said what Cordelia would do when he went back home, being honest with himself Xander had expected her to leave him in Mexico when he was asleep with no way to get home. There was also the fact that the past four months they had been spent with no one around but the two of them and they had grown to trust each other, even if it was more Cordelia would get in trouble and Xander with his new power that they didn't understand would come and save her.

"Would it be so bad it I stayed in Sunnydale?" Cordelia asked feeling unsure of herself for some reason, before she had dated Xander two years ago she would have just told him that she was staying but she wanted him to say it was ok, while they had little money between them she knew what his home life was like and that he wouldn't want to be forced to go back to it, and she didn't have anyone at all now. Her father had been jailed for not paying taxes, and her house was gone, she had only just managed to run away in time for avoid them taking her car as well.

"You want to stay in Sunnydale?" Xander asked looking shocked, he knew how close they had become the past four months and part of him hoped that it wasn't so much her wanting to be in Sunnydale but wanting to be where he was. It wasn't so much as a romantic feeling anymore at least he didn't think it was, but he just wanted her around even if it was only for a little bit longer. Met with a nod of her head instead of a verbal answer Xander smiled and wrapped his arm around her bringing her closer to him as he looked back at the ceiling trying to figure out how they were going to do this. "You know we have nowhere to stay, no money, and no food." Xander said still not looking at her until he felt a shift on the bed, Cordelia got off of the bed and nervously paced the small hotel rooming looking at the floor, she never told him what she had done after he had killed a demon that wanted to use her in some ritual.

"We mightn't have money, but we have something just as good." Cordelia said walking over to the duffle bag and that house the sword Alastor and the gauntlets Ifrit, Xander sat forward on the bed wondering just what she had in the bag that was just as good as money, the only thing that he knew as in the bag were the two weapons or as the old gypsy woman had called them Devil Arms. Placing the sword and the gauntlets on the bed Cordelia pulled a small black bag out of the duffle bag and held it in her hands as if it were the most important thing in the world. Unzipping the bag Cordelia pulled something out the bag and with a proud smile on her face she turned to look at Xander whose jaw dropped. In her hand was a solid crystal skull that stood roughly five inches high and three inches wide. He had saw the same skull in the cave where he had found Alastor it never occurred to him that she had stolen it on the way out.

"You've had that all this time?" Xander laughed, he had never thought she would have stuck around carrying something that valuable around with her all this time, he didn't know if he would have if he had stolen it.

"There were so many times when I just wanted to leave you there and take this and sell it, but every time I went to you saved me and never asked what I was doing out on my own." No matter how much he wanted to Xander couldn't feel angry or slightly betrayed at the confession, it had only just been a minute ago that he wasn't so sure if he wouldn't have took off if he had the skull in his possession. "I was thinking that there has to be someone here in Sunnydale that would give us the right amount for this if we sold it to them and then we'd have money to live." Cordelia finished getting more and more excited; it was obvious that what she had planned was for the two of them.

"I'm going to let Giles and the rest know I'm back," Xander said getting off of the bed and starting to get dressed not seeing the down trodden look on her face before he turned around, "You go and sell that and meet me there when you've done it, after that we'll find somewhere to live." He couldn't help but smile at the smile of Cordelia's face when he finished, if she was honest enough to tell him what she had done and it was obvious that she didn't want to leave then he wasn't about to push her away. Placing a chaste kiss on the top of her head Xander put the sword and gauntlets back in the duffle bag before he picked it up and left the room leaving behind a grinning Cordelia who sat there for a few minutes longer until she realised that she had a job do to know.

Giles couldn't help but groan in annoyance as Buffy, Willow and Oz were all sitting on his couch as what seemed to be a daily thing now that they were all done with high school, it seemed that they never went to college or spent a full day there and it was starting to grate on the ex watchers nerves. Once again the topic of the day was Parker which would change to Xander and possibly back to Parker once more just for good reason. The slayers determination to still deny Parker looking anything like Xander would bring about an argument between members of the group without fail and by the looks of things it seemed that it would be happening any second now.

"Giles Parker doesn't look like Xander does he?" Buffy asked looking at Giles over the counter that separated the kitchen from the lounge, unsure of what to say that would prevent the fight from continuing Giles almost got down on his knees and thanked the gods when there was a loud knock on his door. He was half way to answering it when confusion took over; turning back he looked at the trio in the room who could only stare in confusion, the fact that they were the only ones that ever came to the house was not lost of them. Carefully opening the door to see who was knocking his eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he saw a smiling Xander at the other side with his arms out looking like he was waiting for a hug from the older man.

"Good lord Xander, you're back." Giles said unable to keep his own smile from his face, stepping aside to let the younger male inside he watched as Xander quickly took a look over his shoulder to the patch of plants at the edge of the lawn before walking into the house.

"Giles who was at the do-" Buffy's sentence was cut off as she watched Xander walk into the lounge and place himself in the chair that Giles had been in before he walked into the kitchen to get a drink. "Xander!" Buffy screamed before she launched herself from the couch and at her friend, her excitement was shared by Willow who looked ready to jump up as well, even Oz who usually didn't show any emotion wasn't able to hide his happiness at seeing his friend was finally back home. Keeping her arms around his neck Buffy positioned herself on Xander's lap almost acting like a small weight in case he was ready to leave again and not get in touch.

"Where did you go?" Giles asked taking the spare spot on the couch that Buffy had been in, he was shocked at her display; for someone that seemed to get annoyed if the conversation turned to why Xander hadn't come home yet or worse when they said Xander looked like Parker she seemed overly happy that he was back.

"Well my car broke down not that far from Sunnydale so I thought that my trip was over pretty quickly, but I ended up running into an old friend and they gave me a lift, and for the past four months we've been travelling around Mexico having a demonic free summer for a change." There were shared looks past between the four that had been in the house before Xander turned back up when he said that he had been in Mexico.

"Demonic free?" Oz asked slightly stunned, out of all the Scobbies it seemed that Xander had the worst luck with attracting demons so saying that he didn't run into at least one during his four month exile seemed slightly odd to him. Not giving a verbal answer Xander nodded as his attention turned to Buffy who looked like she wasn't going to be getting off of him any time soon, Oz continued to stare at Xander for a few seconds longer waiting to be looked at again, it didn't take long for Xander to feel the werewolf's stare and turned back to look at his only male friend. It was exactly what Oz needed to see, with Buffy being the only other person in the room with any real supernatural power and the fact that she was busy just being next to Xander wasn't a surprise that she couldn't feel it, but looking at Xander he could see something hidden in his brown eyes he had no idea what it was but there was something there, the teasing grin that formed on the edge of Xander's mouth as he turned away once again told him that there was something being hidden from them and he forced back the small laugh that was coming free.

"What did you do in Mexico?" Willow asked unable to fight the jealousy of seeing Buffy happily sitting on Xander's knee, she didn't have any feelings for her childhood friend anymore especially after what happened last year but it still got to her seeing someone else being shown affection subconsciously as it may have been. Buffy turned her head around to hear what was going to be the answer, while Xander sat there and stared at Willow trying to come up with something that wouldn't give them any hints about really happened but also be good enough so it didn't seem like he had stayed there for so long for no real reason.

"Most of the time I was just trying to find a job so I'd have money so I could have a place to stay for however long I was going to be in one place." Xander answered looking at Willow who raised her eyebrow telling him that she knew his answer wasn't fully true and she'd want a better one later. It seemed that she was the only one that didn't take the answer as good enough as Giles started to talk to Buffy about her patrolling; looking down at his watch Xander wanted nothing more than Cordelia to turn up no matter how close he was to his friends he knew that the more they asked questions the more likely he was to let something important slip and that would be all they would need to continuously bug him to find out more.

"Have you got a clue to what it was last night that attack the vampires?" Oz asked the former watcher; not being supposed to know what was being talked about Xander leaned forward in the chair trying to act like he wanted to know what they were talking about. His action wasn't missed by the others who had slipped back into old patterns quickly almost as if Xander hadn't been gone for the past four months.

"What attacked vampires?" Xander asked feigning stupidity, the sympathetic looks he received reminded him just how much they tried to push him from the group the past year and they didn't think that they had been in the wrong for it either. Buffy stood up as she paced the room; she hadn't told any of them what had really happened saying the figure came in at the end when she had been in total control of the fight and took the vampires by surprise. No matter how scared she had been there was no way her pride would take the looks they would give her or act like she couldn't take care of herself.

"Oh, it was just a small run in. When I was on patrol someone or thing jumped from a tree in the cemetery and took some of the vamps I'd been fighting out from behind. Must have just been lucky, but he ran away before I had been able to get closer to him." While not knowing how the fight had gone Giles, Oz and Willow were told just how the mystery figure had taken out the vampires so it was shocking for them to hear Buffy lie to Xander about it when they knew he'd eventually find out the truth.

"Buffy it was hardly lucky, from what you told me last night it seems that this fighter as the ability to control fire to some degree as you said his hands and feet and trails of flames coming off of them when he was fighting not to mention he had flames in his eyes." Giles said letting Xander know Buffy had been lying to him about what happened, unconcerned with the glare he was getting off of his slayer he looked down at the floor. "And to answer your question OZ, no I don't have any information on whom or what it was that got involved last night. It could have been anything, a new warrior that wants to destroy the vampire population here, or it could be a demon that wants to control the hell mouth. Either way Buffy will go back out tonight and if she finds it again, she'll have to see if she can find anything out on it for us." Buffy looked slightly worried about having to patrol again tonight, but she knew that this time she would take Willow and Oz with her, her gaze turned to Xander and she knew that there was no way she'd let Xander go with them, it was just too dangerous for him to be patrolling. Xander didn't know whether to laugh or roll his eyes at Buffy's version of what had happened to her last night but in the end he did neither when there was another knock on the door.

"Giles have you been making friends and not telling us?" Buffy joked, Willow and Oz laughed while Giles rolled his eyes at Buffy, Xander could only allow a tiny smile to form on his face knowing full well who was on the other side of the door waiting for an answer. He was glad she had turned up now because he was getting ready to make an excuse to leave and try to find out where she was, Buffy acting like she had been in control last night had really got to him and it made him wonder just how many times had she been lucky to get away with her life and then act like she hadn't been in any danger at all.

"Cordelia? What are you doing here?" Giles asked looking down at the brunette that had at one point been a part of their group. The name brought confusion from three of the four sitting in the lounge as they turned to see her standing in the doorway with a smile on her face acting liking she had every reason to be there. Walking past Giles Cordelia walked into the lounge and smiled at Buffy and Oz before looking at Willow as she made her way to Xander, while she and Xander had patched things up to a degree she had never forgiven Willow for what she and Xander had done the year before which ended their relationship.

"I heard that Xander was here and I wanted to see him." she answered a smile lighting up her face letting Xander know she had been successful in trying to sell the small skull and finding them somewhere to stay. "You ready to go?" she whispered to Xander seeing the disbelieving looks she was getting for saying that she wanted to see Xander. Nodding down to the smaller brunette Xander started walking to the still open door with her following him leaving three bewildered friends in the lounge and a stunned Giles at the front door.

"Well this has been fun; we should do it more often." Xander said before closing the door behind them as they walked down the small pathway leading out to the street, stopping as he came to the section of plants at the end of the path he reached down and picked up the duffle bag he had dropped there before he knocked on Giles' door to greet his old friends. Turning around to look back at the house he saw Buffy standing at the window looking out at him and Cordelia with a curious expression on her face which turned to suspicion when he picked the bag up.

"Do you think they have any type of clue to what you've been doing for four months?" Cordelia asked turning back to look at the house as well before walking down the street closely to Xander who shook his head in the negative. "We have to stay in the hotel for another few nights while they sort the keys out for the house I've got us, we should be there the end of the week and then we get to go furniture shopping." she said giddily, laughing when Xander let out a groan at the thought of shopping with her.

"Something's not right." Buffy said turning away from the window to look at Willow, Oz and Giles expectantly. "Xander shows back up after four months of 'doing nothing in Mexico' and then Cordelia turns up, 'having heard Xander was here' and did any of you know Xander left a bag outside?" Buffy asked never thinking that Cordelia could have put it down before knocking on the door. Willow's eyes widened at the thought of something being up which was met with Buffy nodding as if she had this all figured out, Giles looked at his slayer not understanding her logic that there had to be something wrong with the way Xander had been. Four months in Mexico with what seemed to him from the way they had been meant Cordelia had been with him was bound to have some changes on him when he got back home.

"Buffy, Xander isn't obliged to tell you everything that he does in his life. You have your secrets let him have his; he'll tell us when he's ready." Giles said in his best fatherly tone, only to be met by disgusted looks from Buffy and Willow at the fact that he thinks they won't find out what's going on.

"No, Xander can't have secrets, especially when all of a sudden him and Cordelia are so chummy with each other. I'm going to find out what's going on even if I have to tie them down until they spill." Buffy quickly left Giles' house grabbing her jacket on the way being closely followed by Willow; Oz looked at the open door and back at Giles not knowing what he was supposed to do in the situation.

"I'm going to make sure they don't cause any trouble for Xander." He said to Giles before slowly getting off of the couch and following them at his own pace. Giles could only stare at the door in annoyance at the fact no one was listening to him, it had been the same when they had been in high school but seemed to get worse with age and he had no doubt if and when Buffy's plan failed she'd be right back here trying to get him to help them find out what was going on with Xander even if he didn't think anything was.

"Buffy just what are you going to say to Xander when you catch up with him?" Willow asked needing to job slightly to keep up with the fast pace that the slayer had set on her random thought pattern of Xander and Cordelia being up to something. Stopping Buffy turned to face her red haired witch friend with a look of confusion on her face at the question.

"You know I haven't really thought of it, it should come to me in the moment." She said shrugging before looking around trying to think of what way Xander might have gone. The fact that they had left shortly after he and Cordelia had helped keep them in the line of sight but for some reason they seemed to disappear after a while almost as if they had known they were being followed by her.

Standing with their backs to the wall in a small alleyway Xander looked out at seeing Buffy and Willow talking at the entrance to it looking around for them, Cordelia could only stare at him as she held the bag containing the Devil-Arms.

"You know since you got stabbed through the heart with that sword, you've been increasingly scary. I mean how did you know that they'd follow us anyway?" she asked looking across Xander to see Buffy and Willow slowly leave the entrance and continue their search. Just as Xander was about to step away from the wall Oz appeared at the alleyway entrance and stared down to where they stood before shaking his head and going after Willow and Buffy.

"Buffy saw me pick up the bag from the garden and you know her. She doesn't like not knowing everything that's going on with everyone around her." Xander answered taking hold of Cordelia's hand as she adjusted the bag on her shoulder, "We'll have to go a different way to the hotel and make sure they don't see us." Cordelia could only look on in wonder at the changes that had taken place in Xander in the past four months, and she had to say that she liked this commanding version a lot more then the lost little puppy that would follow Buffy around aimlessly looking for the smallest bit of affection from her. "You should have heard her talk about what happened last night, 'Oh I had everything under control until this thing showed up and took the vampires by surprise.' Last time I checked being pinned under a vampire and weapon less wasn't having everything under control." Xander said bitterly.

Cordelia could only follow silently with a knowing smile on her face, while having been part of the group she never warmed to Buffy like the others had and in the end had been friendly to them before leaving because Xander was around them so much. Turning back every few minutes to make sure that the blonde slayer wasn't behind them, she didn't know why Oz hadn't called for Willow or Buffy to come back when he looked down the alleyway to where they had been and smiled. It almost seemed that he didn't want them to be found so had acted like he didn't know where they had gone.

"Do you think Oz will tell them that he knows where we were?" she asked now walking alongside Xander having stopped looking behind them, not giving a verbal answer Xander kept his pace up as they made their way back to the hotel and hopefully away from Buffy and Willow. He knew that it would be hard if not impossible to keep what they had found a secret from Buffy and the others, but there was no way he was going to tell them unless he had to. Knowing how Buffy would react, she'd probably want him to hand the sword and gauntlets over to her so she could use them and if that failed give them to Giles saying that they were useless crap she had found somewhere. Either that or think he was being possessed by something and try to kill him so he wouldn't be a danger to himself or them.

"I don't know, if Oz was going to tell them then he would have called them back earlier knowing we wouldn't stay there when he spotted us." Xander eventually answered looking at Cordelia; he knew that she would be a talking point for the others having said that she was leaving Sunnydale for good after graduation was over. To suddenly turn back up and with the excuse she had used it was obvious that they had been hiding something. When they had been in high school she had been a good liar but it seemed that she had lost it over time.

Finally getting back to the hotel Xander let go of Cordelia's hand and held the door open for her and looking over at the receptionist who was shaking her head at the two of them. When they had first arrived there last night the older woman had asked if they were married when they only wanted one room, upon hearing that they weren't they were subject to a number of glares and comments under her breath about them living in sin which nearly sent Xander into hysterics as they waited for their room key as Cordelia tried to act like she was more mature then she really was and not bite the woman's head off.

"Does she have to stare at us like that?" Cordelia asked as they walked past the desk to the far corridor that their room was located in, looking over his shoulder and seeing that she was still staring at them while shaking her head Xander suppressed the urge to shout something at her. As he started to turn his head away he notice three people walking in through the front doors and had to stop himself from bolting to the room, walking over to the receptionist desk were; Buffy, Oz and Willow. There werewolf of the group was the one doing the talking looking the more obviously calmer one out of them. Turning his head back around to look at where Cordelia was a few feet in front of him not noticing he had stopped he saw the woman look over to him and then point down the corridor. Knowing that they wouldn't have the time to get to their room before the three caught up with them or at least was able to know for sure who it was Xander rushed forward and grabbed hold of Cordelia dragging her into the storage closet. "Xander what are you doi-"her sentence got cut off as Xander caught her mouth in his as he pushed her body against the now shut door kissing her.


	3. Chapter 3

Buffy looked completely confused as she, Willow and Oz all stood in the corridor, the woman at the reception desk had just said that two people matching Xander and Cordelia's descriptions had walked in seconds before they had and pointed down this corridor but they were nowhere to be seen. Something wasn't adding up for the slayer, the sudden disappearance of Xander and Cordelia when they were near enough right behind them and also the fact that they seemed to have been travelling at hell of a lot quicker then Buffy thought they could have. Turning to look at her two companions Willow had the same puzzled look on her face while Oz as usual seemed detached to what was going on around him, training her senses to pick up any noise that she could identify as either Xander or Cordelia's voices Buffy let her gaze pass across each door that she could while focusing. Her eyes widened when she suddenly heard a moan coming from the inside of the cupboard that was only to the right of Oz, it wasn't an 'I'm in pain moan' but more of an 'I'm in fun moan'. Slowly Buffy started walking towards Oz, who stared at her in confusion until she reached his side and gently pushed him out of the way.

"Xander, Cordelia I know you're in there." She said quietly to the door standing in front of it so if and when it opened they would be greeted with a very pissed off slayer, waiting a few seconds for a answer that never came Buffy banged on the door not wanting to barge right in and catch them doing who knows what to each other."Open the door before I knock it down." Buffy said her temper wearing thinner as this just proved to her that they knew something that they didn't want to share with the rest of them and unlike two years ago she doubted it was how close they were. Grabbing hold of the door handle Buffy gave it a sharp turn in a attempt to forcefully open it, her stunned expression was matched on the faces of Willow and to a lesser extent Oz when the handle didn't turn, with a frown Buffy tried for a second time to only be met with the same resistance from the other side of the door. Standing on the other side of the door with a smile on his face Xander held the door handle in one of his gauntlet covered hands as Cordelia was quickly fixing her hair and putting the sword back in the duffle bag as quickly as she could, "Dam it!" they heard Buffy yell on the other side as the handle refused to budge yet again.

"You ready?" Xander asked turning his body so that he hand holding the door handle was behind his back, while amusing it was hard keeping the door closed from the slayer even with the added strength of the Ifrit gauntlets, merely smiling and nodding at him Cordelia stood back up and placed the bag over her shoulder as she tugged down the sleeve of the leather jacket Xander had removed from the duffle and put on and the gauntlets were fitted to his hands once again. "This is gonna feel weird." Xander said when Cordelia took his other hand, holding on to the door handle for as long as he could Xander stepped away and placed his other hand on Cordelia's shoulder before the two of them vanished in a aura of flames, only seconds after they had the door crashed open as Buffy tumbled in; the force she used had carried her into the closet after there was no one on the other side keeping the door closed from her. If she was stunned when she couldn't open the door the three time she tried then it was nothing to when she got in there only to find it empty of anyone, not knowing what had caused the diminutive blonde to keep quiet the boyfriend and girlfriend stood outside walked into the closet and were just as shocked to see that there was no one in there. Almost as if it were timed a door further down the corridor nearer the entrance opened up and carefully Xander and Cordelia walked out of it flashing a look to where Buffy, Willow and Oz where making sure none of the three turned around to see them, hearing footsteps coming closer to her the elderly receptionist looked up to only see Xander walking past her with a three quarter length dark red leather jacket without so much as a glance in her direction; his hands kept in his pockets, Cordelia on the other hand snarled at the woman who had pointed them out to Buffy and the others.

Walking into the street Xander was fidgeting with his hands in his pockets, when he had used them the night before it was a lot cooler as when as the hell fire energies flowing through him, but now in the full heat of Sunnydale as well as wearing a leather jacket to hide them the ancient gauntlets were starting to burn from the heat they were in which was making his hands sweat uncomfortably.

"What's wrong with you?" Cordelia asked walking next to him and noticed that he kept pushing his arms out to the sides and bringing them back in, looking like some sort of crazy person unable to do the funky chicken right.

"The gauntlets are burning my hands." he replied looking slightly picked a kicked puppy with his eyes wide when he told her, it almost made her amazed at how easily Xander made it to make himself seem so innocent when he wanted someone to do something for him, the only thing was they weren't exactly in the position for him to be able to take the gauntlets off his hands in the middle of the street for her to put them back in the bag, there was just too many people in the street and the risk that someone would see what was happening was too great right now.

"When we get around this corner you can take them back off ok?" she asked looking at Xander's puppy dog eyes and patted him on the head, it was expressions like that, which had her giving in to what he wanted usually but this wasn't him wanting to fool around with her like he had over a year ago which she had no objection with. She didn't have to look back to see that Xander had frowned at her back before starting to follow her once again, turning at the first alleyway she saw Cordelia stood slightly in the shadows waiting for Xander to walk in after her; she knew that she'd hate having the two gauntlets on her hands at anytime of the day never mind in the heat wave Sunnydale was currently having. "Here." She said holding out the open bag when Xander stood at the entrance of the alleyway, his face lighting up he quickly pulled his hands out of his pockets and pulled the gauntlets off tossing them in the bag once again followed by his jacket. "Now you can carry the bag for me." Cordelia whispered with a smile on her face before walking back out of the alleyway and walking back in the direction that they had been going in, grumbling to himself about being treated like a slave Xander swung the bag around his shoulder and walked after the former queen of Sunnydale High. He was shocked at how she still managed to get her own way with most things even though she didn't have any money anymore.

* * *

"And when you managed to open the closet door there was no one inside?" Giles asked repeating what he had just been told, he was met with nods from both Buffy and Willow and a sort of shrug from Oz who had gone back to his trademark silence. "I'm sorry Buffy but I just don't see what this has to do with either Xander or Cordelia and the fact that they were carrying a bag." Giles said having lost track of just what they were telling him, he knew it started off with them trying to follow Xander and Cordelia which led them to the motel; supposedly then the pair they were following vanished from sight which led Buffy to believe that they were hiding in a closet that wouldn't open for her and when it finally did was empty.

"What do you mean you don't see what it has to do with Xander? Obviously they must have seen us following them and went into the motel and hide in the closet, but knowing that a door wouldn't stop me somehow blocked it while they had sex or something equally as sickening. I mean Xander naked eeww." Buffy said Giles had nodded along to the first part of her idea but raised his eyebrow when she said that the idea of Xander was naked was sickening, he found it hard to believe that she really thought that seeing as how her eyes had a slightly glazed over look in them before she came back and blushed brightly. "I'm still working on the disappearing though." She finished looking proud of herself for having come up with this idea on her own; the smile on her face was the type you would see on a child's when they were expecting a cookie.

"Ohhh, maybe the sight of a naked Xander made Cordelia run off and lock him in there alone and ashamed." Willow said brightly before deflating "I too and still working on him vanishing from the room." Giles and Oz shared a disturbed look at where the conversation was going and knew that one of them had to put a stop to it soon otherwise it would turn horrifying for them to be in the room.

"Willow do you remember the Speedo incident?" Buffy asked before either of the males could interject and turn the conversation to something manly like sports, or a topic were they would joke about someone being beaten up, the glazed over look that formed on Willow's face wasn't to the extent it had been on Buffy's but was enough to show she was recalling that incident. "Something tells me that Xander has no problems in the pants department." Buffy added, not saying anything Oz slowly stood up and walked into the kitchen followed by Giles who was looking on the verge of a nervous breakdown, "I mean there was a bulge there. There was a big bulge." Buffy said and for the first time he remembered Giles wished that he had doors in the downstairs portion of his house.

"You don't mind Willow talking about things like this?" Giles asked Oz who was very calm, it would have been scary for a stranger to see him like this from the discussion that his girlfriend was having about another male, not only that but one she used to have feelings for.

"I know that she wouldn't do anything like she did last year again. But there's always gonna be that place inside her that Xander has, I don't think he knows it and I'm not too sure that he wants it anymore. For years the two of them were all the other had and Willow felt more than friendship for him all that time, then Buffy turned up and Xander obviously felt for her; I think I'm putting last year down to all the stress we were under." Oz answered, it was one of the few times he had spoken more than a few words at a time, but also like the times when he did talk a lot it made sense what he was saying. "So how long do you want to stay in here?" he asked Giles who was looking through the gap that was in the plaster of the wall acting like a window from the kitchen to the lounge, seeing Buffy spreading her arms part like she was measuring the size of something not all that big and then Willow placing a comforting hand on her shoulder while looking horrified gave him the answer he needed.

"I think we should wait in here for a bit longer." He answered Oz turning back to the werewolf as all the colour drained from his face.

* * *

Parker was sitting in the Sunnydale cafe when he saw a brunette sitting over at a table on her own, the smile that formed to his face was one that he knew had women in his bed within the night and if he learnt anything from his studies and he had, it was that you had to play the sympathetic listener and say you understand how they feel but don't want to rush them. A slight swagger to his step led him to the table as he watched his next conquest idly stir her drink as her shoes nudged the large duffle bag under the table, looking around to make sure that no one he knew or possibly someone she was waiting for was making their way over.

"Whoever he is, he's not worth it." Parker said taking the seat opposite Cordelia at the table, stunned at being brought from her thoughts she jumped slightly in her seat as she looked at Parker. The top of the range clothes, the styled hair and the all too confident smile on his face, not too long ago this was the type of guy that she would have dated and then both of them would see other people behind the others backs while acting the perfect couple, life was so much simpler then; how she hated Xander Harris sometimes. "The guy you're thinking about, he isn't worth it." Parker said once again now that he had her full attention, "I mean he's making someone like you wait for him right? Who does he think he is someone that's more important then you?" Cordelia had no idea who he thought he was some type of Don Juan? But seeing that Xander wasn't back yet she let him carry on. "I'll tell you what, tonight me and some of my friends are going to the bronze, show up and I'll show you how a real man treats a woman." Not waiting for an answer off her Parker turned around and walked out of the cafe not before winking at a passing girl on his way. Cordelia was stunned at what just happened she was sitting there waiting for Xander to come back from the bathroom when he walked over and basically told her she was going to the Bronze tonight.

"You know Cordelia if I were the jealous type I'd be upset about all that right now." Xander said sitting down in the seat Parker had been in, once again the sudden arrival shocked her but this time it was a much more welcome one, turning to Xander to let him know what had happened she was tempted to throw her drink all over him when she saw the smirk that was on his face. "I was in hearing range to know what he said, and I think we should go the Bronze tonight, you know to see how a 'man treats a woman'." He mocked Parkers voice with only a slight irritation as he thought about how great the other male obviously saw himself as.

"He could be right you know Xander, I mean you really don't treat me all that well and we're not even dating. So far today I've had to deal with your suspicious friends, have you drag me around Sunnydale and then you molest me in a closet." Cordelia replied with her own teasing smirk on her face. Over the months they had spent in Mexico travelling around and just generally catching the sun until that old man old them about some strange artefacts of great power the two had really bonded once again, while they weren't dating they had got back some sort of the relationship they had before he cheated on her with Willow. Granted it had been a long process getting Cordelia to listen to him about how sorry he was for what he had done but in the end, and after tying her to the bed using the solider memories left in him Xander had managed to get her to stop screaming rape long enough for him to tell her his side of the story. While his side of the story was pretty much what she had seen it was told her that he hadn't gone out to intentionally hurt her, and the reason he hadn't told her was because that even with what was happening he still cared about her. "You know if you're going to be going with me to the Bronze I get to dress you up all sexy like." Cordelia said with a wicked smirk on her face, it had been a comprise between the two of them; she wouldn't drive off and leave him stranded in Mexico and when she wanted him to take her out at night she got to chose what he wore.

"We're not in Mexico anymore Cordy, you can't exactly drive off and leave me there." Xander answered reaching over and picking her drink up before taking a sip and pulling a face at it, he never did see how she could drink coffee without sugar in it but it was just the way she was.

"No you're right we're not in Mexico." Cordelia said started to edge her way off the seat slowly and carefully knowing full well that Xander was watching her every move not knowing what she had planned. "But I'm the one that has the keys to our new place." Without missing a beat she leapt off of her chair and ran out the cafe laughing as she heard Xander curse and his heavier steps chasing after her. Not wanting to turn back and see how close he was to her Cordelia kept running as fast as she could in her high heels, the only advantage she had over Xander was the fact that she knew where she was going so even if he caught up to her he had no idea to where the keys would unlock. It was true what she had said about not being able to move in just yet but she knew that Buffy would be watching the motel like a hawk and she didn't really think that the landlord would mind them turning up a couple of days early, and if he did then the fat offer she gave him would cover it. Suddenly turning left down the street Cordelia watched as Xander flew straight into the road before turning around and watching her run into a apartment block, giving chase once again with a smile on his face he quickly took note that she had brought them to the richer part of Sunnydale something that he had only seen while he was dating her and a brief contrast to his own living area.

"That wasn't nice." Xander said out of breath as he launched himself into the lift his brunette companion had gone into seconds before the door closed, the smile on her face told him that she was anything but sorry about running away from him in the cafe even if she couldn't breathe properly either. Dropping the duffle bag to the floor he turned to look at her before resting his back against the mirrored wall, "so something tells me that you got one of the most expensive apartments you could find." Xander said looking at her, living the life of the princess was something that was easy to fall into for her and while he had no money during most of his nineteen years Xander had often thought it extremely snobbish.

"Hey I found that skull so it was up to me how it was spent." Cordelia fired back ignoring the look Xander gave her when she said that she found it. "Hey I did you were busy looking for that sword and walked right past it when it was sticking out the wall." He could only shake his head at her and the fact that she was right he guessed, it wasn't so much that he walked past it on purpose but when something shiny caught his eye and he turned around to see what it was Cordelia was already shoving it into the bag they had brought with them like a professional thief, something she probably could be.

"You really don't want to pick out the clothes for me tonight do you?" Xander asked changing the subject hoping she'd have pity on him, but luck wasn't shinning on him today from the smile she gave him. "We didn't bring any clothes with us from Mexico after he had to leave that fast." He said thinking he found a loophole in her plan that he could use, the smile on her face changed from happy to downright evil.

"Before I met you at Giles' I went shopping for the both of us and took it back here." She grinned, "So I picked out all your clothes."

* * *

"Are you sure you want to go to the Bronze tonight?" Willow asked Buffy who was going through her different outfits, the two of them had just spent an hour doing the slayers hair and now Willow wanted her to back out from going out. "I mean it hasn't been that long since the whole Parker thing and I think you might be rushing into this." She tried, she didn't know why but the attention that Buffy got still bothered Willow when they were out even if she was dating Oz, she knew that she herself had started getting more attention but Buffy just seemed to draw men to her like a moth to the flames.

"Willow I'm not just going to sit in my house and become an invalid because of Parker, I have to move on isn't that what you were saying? I need to find someone better then Parker which can't be too hard can it?" she asked throwing a dark blue dress on to her bed, neither she nor Willow noticed it was the same one that she had wore the night she humiliated Xander at the Bronze. "And what do you think is up with Xander and Cordelia I thought he was only going to make that mistake once."

"I don't know." Willow replied, "I don't think that they're dating again but it seems like they're friends with each other," both of them shuddered at the thought of being friends with Cordelia, it had become a known fact after she left the group that they had only put up with her because Xander was dating her. "Oohh, you're single." Willow said bouncing up and down like a little child, Buffy merely nodded her head at Willow knowing full well that she was single after Angel had left her and Parker had used her, "And Xander's single." Willow finished and Buffy's eyes widened at the thought.

"No Wills I can't date Xander. I mean he's Xander, undatable. My Xander shaped friend." Buffy said looking anywhere but Willow for that fact that she thought she should date him, it was like one of the signs of the four housemen, raining fireballs, floods, boils and Buffy Summers dating Xander Harris.

"Weren't you the one in Giles' talking about the size of Xander's bulge?" Willow asked with a straight face which was hard to keep as she saw Buffy turn bright red, "Look I'm not saying fall in love with him and run away tomorrow to get married, but try to look at him as a male and not Xander for once. I've liked him, Cordelia has, Anya must have and even Faith I mean they had sex." Willow said before covering her mouth, they had never told Xander they knew he had sex with Faith and it wasn't something that they talked about between themselves all that much. The only reason the two of them knew anything was because the night that they stopped the hell mouth being reopened Angel told Buffy that he could smell Xander all over Faith and the smell of sex.

"So is Oz meeting us there?" Buffy asked changing the subject as quickly as she could, she knew that Willow had simply forgotten about them not talking about Faith and Xander but for some reason it bothered her more then she like, it almost seemed that was the point Xander had stopped seeing her in a romantic light and even if she didn't have any feelings for him in the similar way it was always nice to know someone cared about you that much. Not verbal answer was given as Willow made a 'hmm' noise which Buffy could to mean yes before she walked out of her bedroom and towards the shower that was opposite; sighing to herself Willow sat down on Buffy's bed and opened up the drawer on the nightstand. Her eyes widened which seemed to be happening a lot in the past few days, but staring back up at her was the bracelet that Xander had given Buffy when she had tried out for being a cheerleader, they had all thought it had been destroyed when Giles had preformed the spell to stop Amy's mum, it looked like Ms Summers had some explaining to do.

* * *

"I can't believe you got me to wear this." Xander said for the third time since they had arrived at the Bronze, looking down at his attire he couldn't help but shake his head in slight disgust. The dark blue shirt yes he would wear that when he found out it was made out something like silk then no he wouldn't and looking down at the pants he had on, black leather pants he had no idea what was going on, it made him feel like he was a part of a porno.

"Will you stop complaining, I told you that I was going to make you look all sexy tonight and I have. The leather pants bring out your ass, and you have a nice one so you should let me see it when there's more emphasis on it." Xander turned around and narrowed his eyes at Cordelia ready to say something else to her but she quickly stopped him, "Look, I know people think I have a great chest and legs so I wear a blouse that brings out my chest and a short skirt to show off my legs." Whatever Xander was about to saw was cut short as he looked up and down Cordelia with a smile on his face and he had to admit that she had a point in what she was saying. "Now trust me women like looking at your ass." Cordelia winked at him, turning back around to the direction that she was going in she nearly walked right into Buffy who had been talking to Willow over her shoulder with Oz trailing them.

"Cordelia. Hi." Buffy said looking at the taller brunette, she hadn't expected to see her here tonight and it was probably something that she could have done without, looking past her and towards who was standing behind Cordelia Buffy's eyes travelled down his back and stopping just were Cordelia had said women liked looking at him with a raised eyebrow Buffy was about to bring attention to herself just so they'd turn around when they did so on their own. "Xander!" Buffy nearly screamed in shock, her mind nearly went into shut down, 'I've just been checking out Xander. Ok, I can do this, I can be calm and collected about it no one has to know.'

"Buffy you have to move if we're all going to get a table together." Xander said placing a hand on her shoulder while the other three went to a large table in the centre of the club leaving them alone. Not having known he was talking to her Buffy snapped to attention and looked up at Xander before turning to where he was pointing where Willow, Oz and Cordelia all sat waiting for them. Trying to act like she hadn't zoned out of them Buffy smiled at Xander and walked to where the other three sat followed by the tallest of the group who was shaking his head all the way along, when he sat down it was obvious that no one knew what to say to each other as there was an uncomfortable silence that hung around them. "I'll go get some drinks." Xander said jumping up after only a minute and walking over to the bar before placing an order in.

"I haven't seen you around, you new here?" a voice asked from the left of him, turning around he saw the same guy that was talking to Cordelia in the cafe earlier today, shaking his head Xander turned away and waited for the drinks to be given to him when he felt his arm being tapped. "Listen I'm in a sorority at USC and we're throwing this big party in a few hours, you should come and pledge. There'll be beer and lots of women you know what I mean. Just ask for Parker's party if you show up on campus." He told Xander before walking away through the crowds of people that were filling the Bronze with nearly every passing second. The slight grin or wink at the women that went past him Parker found who he was looking for, the brunette from the afternoon sitting at a table only this time she had people with her but with their backs turned. "Hey I knew you'd turn up." He said standing next to Cordelia who turned and looked at him before sighing, she didn't actually think she'd see him again but it looked like the gods or hell mouth were laughing at her. "Listen there's a party later at USC and I was wondering if yo-."

"Parker?" freezing at the familiar voice Parker slowly turned his head to the side to see the bright green eyes of Buffy staring right back at him, they were filled with hurt and betrayal as she looked at him. It was only this time that Parker saw Willow sitting next to Buffy and then Oz on the other side both giving him death glares.

"On second thought why don't we just forget about the whole thing?" he said before turning around and running off from the table knowing that he chances were good he'd end up being hurt.

"Why have we just sent someone running away in fear?" Xander asked setting a tray full of drinks down on the table and taking a seat in between Willow and Cordelia, it didn't occur to him that it seemed odd Oz was sitting the other side by Buffy and Cordelia. "So does anyone want to tell me or is scaring people your thing now?" he asked looking around the four of them and it was only Cordelia who looked as confused as he did.

"That was Parker." Willow said looking at Buffy and then Xander as she spoke, "Just before you can back he asked Buffy to go to a party with him at USC and things got a little out of control while they were there." Xander had kept his eyes on Buffy so far and by the way she wouldn't meet his gaze it told him what he didn't want to know. "Buffy slept with him and the next day he was gone. He has a reputation around the campus of getting girls and I think that's what he had planned with Cordelia." All eyes at the table shifted back and forth between Buffy and Xander waiting to see who'd be the first one to react, it was a known fact between everyone that even while they argued with each other Buffy and Xander were always there for the other one.

Slowly Xander stood up and whispered something into Cordelia's ear which made the brunette smile at him before dropping a set of keys into his hands. The smile that she had on her face was watched on Xander's as he walked off towards the exit.

* * *

A group of students were walking across the campus of USC when they were stopped by Xander now wearing his leather coat once again, with the jacket open they could see the navy blue vest top underneath that came together in the centre with four golden medallions were it locked in place.

"You know where I can find Parker's party?" he asked one of them, drunk out of his skull the student pointed behind him to were all the music and yells were coming from. A smirk formed on his face as he walked past them and towards the frat house on a mission.

"Dude did you see that guys eyes. They were on fire, man that guy is on some hyped up shit." The student that gave the instructions told his friend before they burst out laughing and walked off. Xander's temper was getting the better of him with every step he could and as it did he could feel his body heating up, the thing was he didn't know how to explain it either. It felt like he was about to burst into flames but without any of the pain just heat. Standing outside the door of the frat house he had been pointed to Xander thought about knocking but decided against it. 'Those that insult you shall pay with the fires of hell.' That voice he heard when he had found the gauntlets led his movements, fluently Xander brought his foot back before launching forward and taking the door off its hinges as his entire leg was engulfed by flames.

Everyone in the frat house stopped what they were doing when the door came in and all turned to see what just happened, slowly and confidently Xander walked over the now broken door and into the house glaring at each and every person that looked his way, making his way to the centre of the room where a large wooden table sat he grabbed the end of it and flipped it over destroyed all of the contents that had been placed on top of it, never expecting someone with a grudge to turn up.

"What the fuck are you guys doing out here you're kill-." Parker stopped what he was going to say after coming out of the downstairs bedroom shirtless when he saw Xander glaring at him murderously, "Oh shit dude, you know how it was Buffy knew it was just sex that night I never thought she'd get clingy on me." No one seemed to notice the gauntlets on Xander's hands be engulfed by flames as he grabbed Parker by the belt on his jeans and tossed him across the room.

"GET OUT!" Xander roared at the other people in the house, his voice booming off all four walls sounding deeper and having a demonic edge to it. Not wanting to be on the receiving end of what was going to happen to Parker everyone ran out of the house as fast as their legs would take them.


End file.
